FMH ~ 39!

“Well, first of all why don't we just talk with him instead of ordering him around or slapping him with spells?” Taylor’s tone was caustic, and she stepped forward carefully as if Luke was a wild animal. “Sir? I assume you are a man thanks to that… um, rather impressive beard. I'm going to cast a spell to clean you up and take care of any surface-level health issues that you are having. This is not an attack. Cleanse, Purify? Take care of him?”

Two insect-like spell forms flew out of a fluttering book that appeared behind her, zipping around Luke in a supersonic orbit. His hand lashed out, catching one of them, inspecting it, and letting it go. He snorted in a gravelly voice, “No protein.”

It took a few minutes, longer than Taylor had ever seen her spells needing to work, but eventually the grime and filth vanished. However, his wrapped leathers and animal hides deteriorated to a point that they vanished into nothingness as well. What the spells left behind was a fully nude man that Taylor had given up for dead long ago. “Luke…?”

His hair was perfectly styled, his beard pleated, and body-covering scars on full display. Luke felt no shame, he had been alone for far too long to give a single abyss about personal boundaries or societal norms. However, hearing his name made his eyes lock onto the person who has spoken it, “How do you know that name? Who are you?”

“Who am I? I'm Taylor! I was one of your best friends your whole life!” Taylor steps forward, her nostalgia and slowly-kindling happiness burning down to fury in an instant. “What happened to you? Where did you go? You died! We all saw you die! How could you let us believe that you had been dead all of these years?”

“Let you…?” Luke's eyes shifted to a deep blue, and steam began rolling out of them. “I was locked away for almost forty years! Who are you to lecture me? I don't even know who you are! Why should I care that you were sad?”

“I'm Taylor! Your best friend, this is Andre, and Zed!”

Taylor's next words were interrupted, and Andre chimed in with, “We are also your best friends, just saying.”

Both Taylor and Luke glared at him, before looking at each other one more time. The Archmage chose that moment to speak up. “I don't care how well you all know each other, he clearly cannot be controlled. He has to be put down like the rabid animal that he is.”

Before the most powerful man in the Kingdom could act upon his words, Zed stood forward between everyone else and Luke. “Hello! I don't know if you all know me, or in your case remember me, Luke. I am Zed, nice to meet you all. I'm a Bard, so I know exactly how difficult this sort of situation can be. Why not, instead of threatening each other, agree to work with each other or go off and do our own things? I am directly volunteering to go with Luke, it seems like I will get the best stories with him!”

The general who had disparaged Bards earlier spoke again, this time with a clear sneer on his face, “Once more, you don't get to choose the team you are on. You will likely be in the back lines, in some tavern somewhere. Accept your lot in life, Bard.”

“No, wait.” The archmage took a step forward, a light smile appeared on his face. “Tell you what I will do… I am going to assign quests to all of you. At that point, you can decide whether you want to tackle them yourself, or go with a group.”

Master Don looked over at Andre, “You have known about your quest since your initiation, now that you are the Arch Druid of the Kingdom, you can choose on your own whether or not to accept this quest. For the rest of you, this is mandatory. Andre, your quest is to return life to the Scarroco desert. Bard, your quest is to keep this abomination from killing any servants of the Kingdom. Taylor, your quest is to keep their group from creating any political incidents. You, Murderhobo, is it? I'm sending you to the front lines. You're too dangerous to let roam within the Kingdom itself.”

Luke had a message appear in front of his eyes instantly.

Quest gained: Assist the warfront! You have been assigned to the front lines of combat, you will be paid an Ascender’s stipend for each week that you are able to follow the orders of your new Commander. Failure: variable.

“Right well, see what you did there, it only gave one of us a quest that doesn't require being altogether.” Zed tried to explain to the archmage. “I mean, sure, this is what I was after, but it just seems a little-”

“You got what you wanted. The others can choose to work with you or not.” The archmage turned his glare on Zed. “Whether he is with you or not, if he kills someone that serves the Kingdom your quest fails. Quest failure equals jail time or death. Whether there is a political incident determines Taylor's Quest. I am certain that she would be able to control that happening either in the capital or with the Murderhobo. Only Andres’ quest is actually one that is of great importance to the Kingdom, he wouldn't fail even if I did not assign it to him. This way, he just gets more rewards. Rewards that he can keep for himself, or share with you.” 

Zed looked over at Andre, his eyes wide and pleading. The general seemed pleased by this outcome, and turn to walk away before he was called to do anything else. Andre was clearly hesitating, as the Archmage had stated, he would succeed in this on his own. If he included other people in his project, his rewards would obviously be lessened. However, he nodded at Zed, “Yes, let's all group up together! It'll be just like old times.”

“I will of course go with you,” Taylor stated to the others with a slight smile on her face, “It will be much easier to prevent an international incident if we don't… feces, where did the Murderhobo go? I mean, where did Luke go?”

They looked to Master Don to see if he had anything to say, but the archmage simply shrugged. “I gave you your quests. You wanted him alive, he’s alive. Luke is your problem now. He went that way. Good luck.”

The newly made party looked in the direction that the archmage had casually pointed with great concern, that was the fortification. That was a town. There were people in there that had no defense against an Ascender. If Luke could attack the archmage, there would be nothing protecting those other standard people. They ran after him, each of them speeding forward in their own method.

“I guess I'll just catch up, then?” Zedd called as Andre and Taylor blasted across the train faster than most spells would travel. They spared him a glance, noting that he was running only slightly faster than most normal humans could.

However, no matter how fast they were, Luke had quite a head start and they were uncertain as to where to begin looking for him. Andres eyes widened as he made a realization, “His family! He's been gone for so long, there is no way he does not want to see his family! Quickly, we have to get there first!”

Both of them are already traveling at their maximum speed; Andre zipping across the ground with the plants in the area practically throwing him forward, and Taylor was floating over the ground on a current of invisible mana. They reached Luke's old house, they could see his parents and sister working in their workshop… but there was no sign of Luke.

They looked at each other in confusion, and Taylor said that they were both thinking. “Where could he possibly have gone if not to see his family?”

A sound like a tree being shattered with a single punch reach their ears, quickly followed by screams. Without hesitation, the two of them reacted by moving as quickly as they could toward the source of the disturbance. What they saw was very disturbing, yet equally as confusing.

Luke was stepping out of a guard post, he had apparently collected all of the weapons and armor that had been in storage, and a soft blue light was radiating off of his body yet somehow not reflecting off of all of the metal that he was carrying. Of course, he was not simply holding everything, he had wrapped it all in a blanket that he had torn off a bed.

“Hobo indeed,” Taylor sighed with resignation as she moved grumpily toward the post.

Of course, the guards of the Town were rapidly closing on the area. “Scum, how dare you attempt to steal from Baron Woodswright! Prepare to lose your hands!

For some reason, Luke didn't react positively toward the threat. In an instant he was in front of the Guard who had just threatened him, his hand raised to crush the man's skull. A vine wrapped around his arm, pulling him backward just before he turned his potential energy into an actually dangerous attack.

Taylor worked on the guards, “Hold! I am Taylor Woodswright, heir of the Baron. I will explain this issue to my father, you will not be held accountable for the actions of a newly-minted Ascender.”

The guards had already been turning pale from the speed at which Luke could move, and every single one of them had felt the brush of death when he raised his fist. Hearing that he wasn't Ascender, coupled with the fact that Taylor was going to take the blame, allowed them to retreat quickly. Andre stood next to Luke, looking at him as if he were a dangerous animal; to be fair, Luke had earned that glare.

“What in the world is wrong with you? Why would you attack a guard, no, before that, why would you rob a guard Outpost in the first place?”

“I knew they had decent quality weapons and armor. I wanted them.” Luke looked at the vine that was still wrapped around his arm, and with a simple pull it exploded into plant fibers. 

“Celestial above, what is your fitness characteristic at?” Andre gulped as he took in the rippling muscles and shredded plant. Luke ignored him and walked away, heading back toward the forest. “Are you really going to leave without seeing your family?”

For the first time, Andre saw hesitation appear on Luke. It cleared up a moment later, and the continued his straight forward march out of town.

“I gave up on seeing them long ago, and this quest is mandatory. I can already feel it trying to make me walk, might as well go and find some decent gear.”